Video 6:03
Nationals MP launches broadside on proposed Graincorp sale

Nationals MP Andrew Broad argues that the sale of Australia's largest agribusiness, Graincorp, to foreign investors would be against the national interest.

Transcript

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: The federal Coalition is facing the first serious test of its unity since taking government in September. It's over the potential sale of GrainCorp, Australia's largest grain handler, to the American company ADM.

While the Liberal side of the Coalition is generally pro-foreign investment, in this case the National Party is fiercely opposed.

The Treasurer Joe Hockey is the ultimate decider and yesterday he said he wouldn't be bullied, a statement interpreted as a warning shot to the Nationals.

One of the members of the federal National team is the newly-elected Member for Mallee, Andrew Broad. He joined me from Mildura earlier.

ANDREW BROAD, NATIONALS MP: Look, I think there are times when we have to look at what's in the national interest. This is one of those times where I don't think it's in Australia's national interest to see the control of our ports and our grain handling infrastructure on the West Coast to a company whose head office is based in the United States.

LEIGH SALES: Do you agree with your leader Warren Truss that an ADM takeover of GrainCorp could potentially affect Australia's food supply and our capacity to control our export markets?

ANDREW BROAD: Well there's no doubt that we need to have some oversight of our ports. What we're seeing is increasing demand for high protein, low moisture grains, which Australia produces, into the Asia Pacific region. And this is the reason that ADM sees GrainCorp as a potential for part of their infrastructure. But I think we want to make sure that Australian producers capitalise from that and nothing that I'm seeing in the GrainCorp ADM discussion is telling me that we'll be better off in approving the sale.

LEIGH SALES: Why specifically do you think it wouldn't be in the national interest?

ANDREW BROAD: Well, look, I mean, we're not against foreign investment, but ADM are not saying that we're going to - they're going to buy and they're going to put the business case for further investment more than the $50 million they're promising, that it's going to help growers attain better market access, that it's going to help growers get their grain shifted before the Northern Hemisphere harvest comes in. We're simply seeing a company that's coming in and saying, "We want to buy it. Trust us. We'll do the right thing by ya. Oh, and we're going to make some profit out of you in the long run." And I think as the growers in my electorate and in this part of the state have began to interact with the company, they've become more uneasy and more concerned about whether this sale is for them and that's the attitude I'm getting told and that's what I'm trying to reflect in my discussions with the Treasurer.

LEIGH SALES: What sort of discussions have you had with the Treasurer?

ANDREW BROAD: Look, I won't go into any detail, only to say that the Treasurer is listening. I've outlined why I think it's not in the national interest and I provided some clarity around what is our competitive advantage. But I don't think it's appropriate for me to go into any of those details any further.

LEIGH SALES: What did you make of Joe Hockey's comments yesterday that he wouldn't be bullied by anyone on this? Did you take that as directed at the National Party?

ANDREW BROAD: Look, I did not. I think at the end of the day you've got an ACCC, you've got a Foreign Investment Review Board and then ultimately you've got the Treasurer who makes the call and it is his call. So, it's appropriate that he's listening to members such as myself, members whose electorate they actually grow grain in and I think that's good that Joe to be listening to it, but it is his call and he'll make that decision with all the information that's at his fingertips.

LEIGH SALES: There's been speculation that some Nationals feel so strongly about this that they might resign from the frontbench if the sale goes ahead. Do you think that's possible?

ANDREW BROAD: Oh, look, there's - this is an issue that there's a lot of strong views upon, but this is not just a National-Liberal argument. This is a view about country MPs who are trying to determine what's in the best interests of making sure that the great products that we grow can make it to the port and that the companies that control those ports are responsive to the Australian growers.

LEIGH SALES: You mentioned earlier trying to reflect the views of farmers and people in your electorate. How do you think that the attitude to this potential GrainCorp takeover breaks down?

ANDREW BROAD: Look, I would say in my electorate there are mixed views. We've probably got I'd say 70 to 80 per cent who are opposed to the sale outright, but there's another 20 to 30 per cent who are saying, "Well if the sale did go ahead, what's in it for us?," and I don't think they're sold by the business case that ADM's been putting. And I think that is really at the crux of it. At the end of the day, our farmers want to shift the product they can grow to the port, to the marketplace in the most efficient manner, but we have to believe that whoever it is who's doing it has got the growers' interests at heart, rather than just simply running the infrastructure down and profit-taking out of grain handling. And I think that's the concerns, if I was to break it up, in the electorate.

LEIGH SALES: How would you describe the performance of GrainCorp and isn't it possible that an ADM takeover could be an improvement?

ANDREW BROAD: Look, there's no doubt that any company can improve, but my concern is that if ADM buys GrainCorp, the grain logistics in Australia will be four per cent of their company. And so I'm just not convinced that the growers are going - the Australian growers are going to be heard when they're only four per cent of the global company that is ADM.

LEIGH SALES: You're just newly-elected. Are you concerned that some of your new colleagues might think, "Well who does this upstart think he is, publicly buying into a politically fraught issue like this when he hasn't even sat in the Parliament yet?"?

ANDREW BROAD: Oh! Look, I haven't been elected to warm a seat. I've got one of the biggest grain-growing areas in Victoria and it's my job to represent their interests in the Federal Parliament.

LEIGH SALES: Andrew Broad, all the best for your first term in Parliament. Thank you very much.